Tales of a Librarian

Hi guys, since it’s Friday again (yahoo!) I thought I’d post another entry, updating what i’ve been getting up to of late. I caught up over dinner with a few of the girls from my library course, which was really great fun. Everyone seems to be getting on really well in their jobs, and progressing as they would like. There is even a couple of job-changes happening, where people have managed to land themselves even better jobs, based upon the experience they have gained in posts they originally took up straight out of university. It’s really nice to see everyone content - especially after the stresses of the course, when everyone was worried that there simply was not enough jobs around this area to sustain us all. There are even a few home buyers and engagements! It’s funny to think that the course had such a large impact on us all.

I am also planning on attending the CILIPS Guide to Chartership event at the end of May, so I will report back to you on that after it has occurred. I haven’t been to one of these before, and mentioned it to a few of the girls over dinner so I think some may also be attending. As far as I am aware, the event just gives lots of advice about preparing your portfolio, gaining the appropriate experience, examples of things to do, how to solve any problems that might be faced. It might also be a good chance to ask any questions i need to about the chartership process, one in particular being about my mentor, who is retiring shortly, and so I will need to find another mentor - which I am not really looking forward to because I heard that quite a few people have had trouble finding people to take them under their wing. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens with regards to that.

I am also becoming involved in various projects at work, which is quite good because they are all very varied. I think that I will be involved in one project (if we win it) in report writing, which is good because I have not really had a chance to write anything substantial since I left university. I wonder if i will be starting all my sentences like abstracting, e.g. includes, details, describes… or if it will all come flooding back.

I also have to compile the bulletin myself next week, which should keep me busy! I have been shown how to do it and have all the instructions at hand, so hopefully I will manage this without too many hiccups. Think I will have a quick read over the procedure again this afternoon, just to make sure, however! Again, I will let you know how things go with that!

Technorati Tags: chartership, cilip, event, librarians, jobs

Hi there, well, hopefully I will be able to find the time to write a bit more on this blog than I have of late, but as I mentioned previously, my mind has been elsewhere over the past weeks, and I seem to be getting more responsibilities at work which has cut down the amount of time I can spend reading and reflecting on things in the workplace. On a brighter note, my broadband should be reconnected in my new house today (haven’t checked yet - fingers crossed) so i will promise to make a concerted effort to read and write more, as I initally intended.

Following this promise, I would like to point out an interesting article, from the Guardian via CILIP Daily News, about the benefits of providing a library to staff within the workplace - i think that this is a brilliant idea in many ways - offering books to employees that are either fiction (to encourage socialising etc.) and also non-fiction (to develop skills, knowledge etc.). Cool. And the stat that 91% of employees say that they would use this kind of facility is really impressive. Perhaps some kind of mobile library could capitalise on this by paying lunch/breaktime visits to various employers throughout the week?